The Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland was the professional body representing actuaries in Scotland. The Faculty of Actuaries was one of two actuarial bodies in the UK, the other was the Institute of Actuaries, which was a separate body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While the Faculty of Actuaries and the Institute of Actuaries were separate institutions, they worked very closely together, and the professional qualifications and professional standards for actuaries were identical in each of them. On 25 May 2010, voting members of the Faculty who took part in a ballot voted to merge the Faculty with the Institute of Actuaries, thus creating the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries which came into being on 1 August 2010, superseding the Institute of Actuaries which ceased to exist on that date.
The Faculty of Actuaries was founded by 38 Scottish actuaries on 4 January 1856 with the aim of representing the interests of actuaries practicing in Scotland.
In September 1868, the Faculty of Actuaries became the first actuarial organisation to be granted a royal charter. The Royal Charter confirmed the Faculty's role and the right to confer qualifications, i.e. the Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries (FFA). Since then there has been an underpinning concept of professional behaviour and the implicit right, or even duty, to discipline members who did not conduct themselves appropriately.
Over the last two decades the Faculty workeded closer and closer with its sister body the Institute of Actuaries and, prior to the merger of the two bodies, reached a stage where almost all aspects of both bodies were run jointly; for example whilst Maclaurin House in Edinburgh was the home of Faculty Council the main purpose of the executive in Maclaurin House is to provide professional regulation services to all members of the UK Actuarial Profession.
In November 2006 the incoming President of the Faculty announced his intention to investigate whether or not the time was now right to restructure to reflect the reality of the arrangements between the Faculty and the Institute and to move towards merger of the two bodies. After investigation and consultation of the issues Faculty Council elected to actively pursue merger with the Institute.